Holliday: Media coverage fueled Scutaro NLCS controversy

Credit: Getty Images

ST LOUIS, MO - OCTOBER 17: Matt Holliday #7 of the St. Louis Cardinals waits on deck in the sixth inning while taking on the San Francisco Giants in Game Three of the National League Championship Series at Busch Stadium on October 17, 2012 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

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ST. LOUIS -- Matt Holliday said Thursday on our radio show that his hard slide into Marco Scutaro in Game 2 of the NLCS had nothing to do with the San Francisco Giants getting fired up to beat the Cardinals in the NLCS.

He said the national media couldn’t resist the storyline of the Giants being angry and hungrier to beat the Cardinals after the slide.

“I think it’s laughable honestly," Holliday said. "If you’re not fired up to play in the NLCS, and you’re not doing everything you can to win a game, I don’t know. Obviously I didn’t pay too much attention to the coverage then with that happening. I didn’t know that they were using that as a rallying cry. I think that’s laughable.”

Holliday did say that he felt bad that he injured Scutaro, and that his slide was a step too late.

He said he got a little too close to Scutaro before he started his slide and that was all there is to it.

"Honestly, you play the game hard and I take a lot of pride in playing hard," Holliday. "That’s part of the game, but at the same time you don’t want to hurt anybody. And you never want anyone to miss time playing on your watch. I felt bad that he had to come out of that game. Apparently he had no problems after that because I think he got a hit every time.”

Holliday believes the MLB network, with its constant coverage of every minute detail of the postseason, helped turn the incident into a controversy.

Hard slides into second base to break up double plays have been a part of baseball forever, but Holliday says plays like that are generally becoming a thing of the past.

“Yeah, I think so, I really do. I’ve seen some of the old clips with Hal McRae taking guys out on double plays and some of the things that happened 20 years ago," he said. "I think that comes back to all the media coverage. I think there is so much coverage and so much analysis on every play and so much time to fill that it has made it different.”